Yuki Tsunoda’s powerful racing made him outscore 8-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo at the Australian GP this year. Praising the Japanese for his talent, Red Bull’s Chief Advisor Helmut Marko had even said, “Yuki got into the top 10 again. That was an incredible performance.” But the 24-year-old is not new to receiving praise from the stalwarts of the F1 world. When he debuted for AlphaTauri (the former version of Visa CashApp Racing Bulls) in 2021, F1 Technical Director Ross Brawn had called him “F1’s best rookie for years“.

In the current season, Yuki Tsunoda has already scored 22 Championship points, surpassing his much more senior teammate Ricciardo by a gap of 10. He has constantly shown off his skills on the race track while he has become a fan favorite off the race track too. More importantly, Yuki has had the backing of Honda’s Formula Dream Project since 2016. As Honda is the engine supplier of Red Bull Racing, thus hiring Yuki would appease the Japanese manufacturer as well.

Despite all of these pros of promoting Yuki Tsunoda to a Red Bull seat, he has remained at VCARB. And this might have something to do with his temperament, as per F1 analyst Tom Coronel. The former racer told Formule1, “Yuki has become one of my favorites. Verbally, I don’t think he’s ready for the top, he sometimes comes across as a bit childish, If he had presented himself in a slightly different way, he would have been in a Red Bull a long time ago.”

Now, Yuki Tsunoda’s angry rants on the team radio prove that Tom Coronel is right about the Japanese being a bit “childish“. In fact, at the Qualifying for this year’s Austrian GP, Yuki had incurred a $43.5k fine for using expletives publicly while driving. So, what did Yuki say after getting such a punishment for his behavior on the radio?

Yuki Tsunoda apologized for his “language” at the Austrian GP

Yuki Tsunoda might be a talent that’s hard to come by in F1, but he has failed time and again at controlling his temper at the races. That is why, when he reached the Austrian GP Quali, he blurted out “These drivers are ***ing r*****ed” on the team radio. The FIA stewards noted this language and slapped him with a fine. Then, the Japanese publicly apologized for his words by taking to his official Instagram handle.

In his statement, Yuki Tsunoda wrote: “I wanted to say big apologies [for] what I said on the radio today. Obviously, I didn’t use it intentionally and was completely misunderstanding the exact meaning of it. I now have a better understanding of what the word means and am very apologetic for what I said. This type of language has no place and is not tolerated and for that I am sorry.”

Now, Yuki is only 24 and has room for improvement. However, if he does not show maturity in his conduct soon, he might never land a Red Bull seat. Do you think the Japanese stand a chance of partnering with Max Verstappen anytime soon? Share below.